Topping up the tower is as good as it gets

Like a shark in Chinese waters, I'm missing a Fin. Whilst exploration can be an end in itself, I prefer scanning through the w-space constellation when it's more of a precursor to action. And whether it's shooting Sleepers or surprising other pilots who are shooting Sleepers I cannot do much on my own. Ambushing salvagers and haulers is a fun activity to pass the time but there are bigger targets out here. I don't think I can continue much longer just poking soft targets, so something will need to change soon.

Alone in our home w-space again I scan, noting that four of the sites I previously activated have now decayed leaving only five expected signatures, including our static wormhole. I resolve the connection to class 3 w-space and jump out to look for action. Spotting a Dragonfly on my directional scanner has me scratching my head about its ship type, and finding out it is a fighter drone has me less interested, particularly as there is no carrier visible on d-scan to accompany the drone. D-scan also shows me a shuttle and three towers, as well as some core scanning probes which have probably spotted our wormhole opening, perhaps ruining my opportunity to surprise anyone before the evening's roaming has started in earnest.

I may as well scan this C3 if I've already been indirectly spotted, so that I can head further abroad. Ignoring the eleven wasted profit's worth of anomalies, the sixteen signatures in the system are quite a few to sift through, and it's even possible that a scout not quite so methodical enough to count all the signatures on an initial blanket scan may not notice a new wormhole appearing. Even so, with no active ships visible on d-scan there's little point in waiting here to ambush someone, and I start resolving the signatures.

I ignore rocks and gas as usual, and find a wormhole that turns out to be a K162. This doesn't surprise me, on reflection, as it is likely to be the source of the other scout in this system. Not many pilots sit cloaked in a safe spot whilst scanning their own system when they have their tower's force field for safety. Even so, the incoming wormhole is only from null-sec k-space and isn't of special interest to me, and I keep scanning to find the system's static exit to low-sec empire space, the only other signature of interest.

Jumping out of w-space puts me in the Kor-Azor region, in a system that is quiet but not empty of pilots. I launch probes to take a look around but end up not straying from the K162, it being the only signature in the system. Now there is only one other pilot in the system with me, and he appears to be scanning too. With this wormhole being the only signature to resolve I find myself in a good position to monitor his progress, and perhaps surprise him, but the probes disappear and no ship visibly warps in or jumps to the C3 before I find myself alone this low-sec system. I suppose the scanning pilot didn't want to find a wormhole.

I take a few minutes to pop some Blood Raider rats in one of the few anomalies here, mostly just to feel productive, as the bounties are hardly worth the effort. Low-sec remains empty now, and heading home sees only the scanning probes gone as a change in the status of the C3, making it quieter than before. I get back to our tower and top up the fuel levels, noting that we'll need to get some more fuel at some point, to state the blindingly obvious. There's not much else for me to do, so I get an early night.

Posted in Gaming |
Tags: eve online, low-sec, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, scanning, w-space